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Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Tiffany,the first of a series of cozy mysteries,is now out in Paperback
(Amazon) and Ebook (McMillan). This is small-town sleuthing set in Chelsea,
Vermont.

Harry Kavanagh, a wealthy mutual funds manager, is found
bludgeoned to death in his living room. Shortly after,
his beautiful, pampered, trophy wife, Tiffany, is discovered walking in a daze
down by the old Moxley Covered Bridge with no recollection of how she got there,
but when the county deputies search her white Mercedes sports car, they find
the a bloody fire place poker in the trunk. Murder one, Sherrif Grady decides. It’s
a slam dunk.

Luckily for Tiffany, a local doctor with a penchant for
helping people in trouble finds traces of an amnesia-causing drug in Tiffany’s
blood system. The doctor becomes convinced Tiffany is being railroaded and organizes
a dream team to come to Tiffany’s defence – and to find the real killer along the
way.

Rob
Kelley

Tiffanyis available on here,
available in Kindle and paperback from Amazon.com here.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Update May 2017: Teaching "white privilege" is now a standard part of the high school curriculum in Ontario, and it's been in the media recently (see Margaret Wente piece about it in the Globe & Mail here), so I thought I might re-post this piece I originally publishedin the Jewish Tribune back in 2012.Please also join the very active discussion on my Quick Brown Fox Facebook page here(though you'll have to scroll down to find it). ~Brian

On May 5, (2012) an American, Tim Wise, was
a keynote speaker at the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB’s)
Futures Conference on Equity and Inclusive Education.

Wise is a card-carrying member of the
American far left who doesn’t believe Israel has any right to exist. Moreover, he frequently writes for
the far left magazine Counterpunch.

This magazine also
publishes articles by the Holocaust denier who calls himself Israel Shamir, by Gilad Atzmon who
suggests that “maybe Hitler was right,” and by James Petras who believes that
the “Zionist power configuration” controls America.

Strange company for a man who calls
himself an anti-racist. But in truth, Wise’s mission is to emphasize racial
divisions, not bridge them, and on May 5, he lectured Canadian teachers
about the evils of “white privilege.”

In his essays, Wise explains white
privilege thus: “The concept is rooted in the common-sense observation that there can be
no down without an up.” Or if blacks are
underprivileged, whites must be “overprivileged.”

To illustrate, Wise gives a laundry list of supposed white privileges,
including “not having to worry about triggering negative stereotypes, rarely
having to feel out of place, not having to worry about racial profiling, etc.”

Note that these privileges are defined negatively. Obviously,
stereotyping is wrong. But how does not being stereotyped amount to a
privilege? Or if blacks are deprived of dignity, are we to understand that
whites must have too much of it, as if there’s just so much human dignity to go
around?

Of course some people do come from a privileged background. I’d say that
President Obama’s kids have a leg up on most people – and good for them! Life’s
too short to worry about other people’s luck.

But the notion of white privilege is disconnected from any actual
privilege. The claim is that ordinary, fair-minded and hardworking Canadians
have more than they deserve – but only if they’re white.

A poor white kid with a single mom on welfare may not have breakfast,
but theoretically he has a whole knapsack of privileges: male privilege, hetero
privilege, ablest privilege – you name it.

Theorists of privilege fall into such absurdities because they discard
individuals and see only groups; thus if some whites have been racists, all
whites – you, me and our grand kids – are accountable for it.

Why? Because whites are morally
compromised by the “genocide of indigenous persons, and the enslavement of
Africans.” Obviously, no whites living today committed these crimes but other
white people did and so, by the raced-based logic of privilege, whites today
bear the responsibility.

Unfortunately, inviting Wise isn’t a
one off for the Toronto District School Board. Much worse, the Board
incorporates the notion of privilege into the curriculum with learning
resources such as the “GLSEN Jump Start Guide: Examining Power, Privilege
and Oppression.”

The literature on white privilege notes that students resist the
concept. Sociologists Dan Pence and Arthur Fields write: “White students often react to in-class discussions
about white privilege with a continuum of behaviors ranging from outright
hostility to a ‘wall of silence.’"

Pence and Fields never consider that
the students may correctly perceive themselves to be under racist attack.

The GLSEN guide recommended by the
Toronto Board instructs teachers to solicit confessions from students about
“the times that they have been oppressive or have used their privilege over
someone else.”

Doubtless, our kids find it hard to
come up with suitable sins. To help them, the guide gives an example: planning
“a trip together without recognizing that one member of the group cannot afford
to participate.”

That may not sound like oppression to
me and you, but it’s all grist for teaching our kids that they’re part of a
system of oppression that has produced every crime from slavery to genocide.
The GLSEN guide observes that students may feel guilty. What a surprise!

Things may get worse. Professors at
the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and the departments of
education at York and Ryerson universities are busily lecturing student
teachers on the ideology of white privilege.

This hit the news back in 2010 when
the media noticed that OISE had granted a student a master’s degree for a
thesis denouncing Jews as privileged and racist and Holocaust education as a
Zionist plot. (Read the Toronto Star's report on the scandal here,
Werner Cohn's essay here,
and his follow-ups here.)

It should come as no surprise that
theorists who divides people into oppressed and oppressor groups, into good
races and bad should put Jews in the bad column, particularly as the further to
the left one goes, the more common it is to find people examining race through
the lens of oppression and privilege.

As a parent of two kids in a Toronto
public school, I'm glad to say that Toronto School Board truly does support
equality for all our students, regardless of race, religion or sexual
orientation – and
usually gets things right (though certainly not always).
But because it does support equality,
the Board must expel the notion of white privilege.

P.S. If Tim Wise has ever given two
minutes thought to Canada, it’s not evident from his writings, but no one
should doubt his talents as a speaker. At the TDSB’s Futures Conference, he
reportedly compared being a person of colour to a disability, castigated Canadians
for pervasive racism, and received a standing ovation. You can read a report on his talk here.

Still, you might wonder if teaching anti-racism actually does reduce racism. Not according to a study conducted in the Netherlands. Apparently anti-racism education actually increases animosity to other cultures. And it's easy to see why: You tell one group they're victims and another group they're victimizers, no one's happy. See a report on the study here. A slightly shorter version of this
piece was originally published in the Jewish Tribuneand onHarry's Placein Britain.

St. Alban's Church, 537 Main Street,Georgetown, Ontario (in
the village of Glen Williams (Map here.)

This fall,
the Intensive course will also be offered Monday
mornings in Toronto. See here. See details of all seven weekly course offered this fall here. The Intensive
course is for experienced writers; people
who have been working on their craft for a while, who have some experience
in the art of giving helpful critiques, and who are working on their own
projects.

During course, you’ll be asked to
bring in five pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may
be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone
pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.

In
addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive
suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come
from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and
how they write and re-write.

Fee:$176.11 + 13% hst = 199

To reserve your spot
now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Instructor Brian
Henryhas
been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He
publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada's most popular blog for writers, teaches
creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from
Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John.But
his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many of his students get published.

Read a review of the Intensive
course here. Read more reviews of Brian’s courses and
workshops here.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Abortion. Even now,
it is still the issue for which reconciliation appears impossible. Both sides,
as passionate now as in the past, have only intensified their positions and
vilified their opponents. Ironically, it is that passion that links both sides’
humanity.

This is what makes
Joyce Carol Oates’ new work of fiction, A
Book of American Martyrs, so necessary and worthwhile. Rather than relying
on warmed over tropes, Ms Oates chooses a careful and thoughtful examination of
the personalities contained in both sides of this never-ending debate.

This work of fiction
focuses on the murder of Dr. Gus Voorhees who is murdered in November 1999
while walking into a women’s clinic that provides abortions. He is murdered by
Luther Dunphy, a God-fearing, God-serving believer who is convinced the murder
of the doctor is saving lives of the unborn. Oates devotes a significant
portion of the book to the effect Voorhees’ work has on his family. In between
dodging threats and making due with a father who is often absent, the three
children desperately try to retain a facsimile of unity even while divisions
rise up between them.

While reading the
book, I couldn’t help but think Oates’ story was reminiscent of the October
1998 murder of Barnett Slepian, an
abortion provider who was killed by a shotgun blast into his Amherst, New York,
home by James Copp.

Oates presents the
perspectives of the family members of the victim and the murderer with a great
deal of sensitivity. The murder itself takes place on the first page of the
book in a sudden and shocking turn.

Joyce Carol Oates

While not condoning
the violent action, Oates attempts to show what led Dunphy to this terrible
moment. The death of his daughter because of a car accident and his wife’s
emotional decline are heaped on the shoulders of Dunphy. Looking for some
relief or a resolution to the pain he is enduring, he finds it in church and a
particularly fiery priest outraged that abortion is still legal.

The preacher asks
his congregation if there is not one among us who will take a stand and save
lives. Perhaps not realizing the power of his oratory, the priest is approached
by Dunphy about his words, the true meaning and what needs to be done.

The priest, realizing
that Dunphy is dealing with an overwhelming sadness, attempts to diminish his
growing desire to take a stand. The effect of his counselling is negligible.

The real strength of
the book comes from the examination of how the two families are affected by
this murder. In some ways, both families share the same fate: all the children
in the respective families have no father, the wives are put in the unenviable
position of having to bind the emotional wounds, stand by their men and somehow
find a way to go on.

It would be
understandable to feel compassion for the victim’s family as well as the family
of the murderer. They are the unintended victims of this violent action. In a
subtle manner, Oates is supportive of Dr. Voorhees but cannot fail to
appreciate the sacrifice made, if involuntarily, by the family of the murderer.

In this monumental
work that stretches out over 700 pages, Oates writing style is succinct and
clear without being devoid of feeling. Readers can’t help but appreciate the
emotional price that is paid by innocent bystanders caught in the emotional,
political and literal crossfire of an unresolved debate.

Quick Brown Foxwelcomes your reviews of books and movies or whatever else catches your eye. Details here. Read how to write a book review (or any kind of review) here.

Paul Daniel is an audio producer at Accessible Media Inc., (AMI) in Toronto,
Ontario. Writing and reading have always been his second and third passions
following his first passion, his wife, Mary. He’s enjoyed being in
Brian’s creative writing
class. “Brian’s class has reminded me the pleasures and challenges of writing,”
says Paul. “There’s never a dull moment.”

Friday, May 26, 2017

Note: Don't ever
miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right
under my bio and get each post delivered to your Inbox. Also, if you’re not yet
on my newsletter, send me an email, including your locale, to: brianhenry@sympatico.ca ~ BrianHi, Brian!

I'm writing to
you today in the hope that you can help our social media campaign for the Quebec
Writers’ Federation Literary Prize for Young Writers gain more traction.

Young writers, the #qwf #youthlitprize for emerging writers is
open for submissions. The prize will be awarded for the best short story, poem, or
work of non-fiction written in English and published in a literary publication
in 2015 or 2016 by a writer between
16 and 24 years old.

Anthology: The Mad Visions of al-Hazred. “About 730 AD, an Arab named Abdul Al-Hazred wrote the
Al-Azif, a grimoire and memorial to the Old Ones. For this crime, he was driven
insane and eventually devoured by a vengeful god in full view of horrified
onlookers. What drove him to write this loathsome tome? What terrible visions
haunted him so badly he felt he had to risk his soul to put them down on paper?”
Stories should be 3,000 – 10,000 words. Pays $25. Deadline: June 30, 2017.
Full guidelines here.

Finally Alban Lake publishes novels, novellas, and some
collections of short stories and poetry. They’re mainly looking for speculative
science fiction, though they also publish fantasy and horror. For novels, pays
20% of print sales and 50% of ebook sales. For novellas and collections, pays
$15 plus 10% of print sales and 50% of ebook sales

The Threepenny Review:"There are vanishingly few magazines left in this country which
seem pitched at the general literary reader and which consistently publish such
interesting, high-quality criticism, reflection, argument, fiction, and poetry…
Threepenny is thankfully still out there." ~ Jonathan Franzen.

Ross and Davis Mitchell Prize for
Faith and Writing ~ $25,000 in prizes

George Elliott Clarke,
one of the poetry judges

In A Secular Age, Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor
writes that many modern people have imagined the gods away and so live in a
disenchanted world. Yet despite this, they continue to be haunted by moments of
wonder (or fear) that tempt them towards belief. Could there be something more
to the world than meets the eye?

Of course, many Canadians have an idea about what this something might
be. And they live their lives within communities that have sought to understand
it, share it, live according to it, and pass it on to their children and
grandchildren. These are the thousands of Canadians of faith communities,
Canadians who participate in the myriad of religions that make up the social
landscape of Canada.

Yet it’s sometimes easy to forget about all these individuals and
communities of faith, and to imagine Canada as one increasingly
"secular" - by which we often meanirreligious - nation. The
Ross and Davis Mitchell Prize for Faith and Writing is designed to help give
voice to these individuals and communities and to help re-awaken Canadians to
the powerful truth, goodness, and beauty that belief brings into our shared
lives.

There will be $25,000 of Prize money awarded.

1st place for short story: $10,000

1st place for suite of poems:
$10,000

2nd place for short story:
$2,500

2nd place for suite of poems:
$2,500

Randy Boyagoda, president PEN Canada
and one of the short story judges

Also: All the shortlisted nominees will have their work published in
an anthology to be published in 2018.

There is a $10 submission fee.

Submissions for the poetry prize must come in the form of a suite of
poems connected to the prize theme (see “Purpose of Prize”) ranging between 300
and 500 lines. (NB: Poetry prizes are for the entire suite, NOT the
best poem within the suite.)

Submissions for the short story prize must be connected to the prize
theme (see “Purpose of Prize”) and be within the 6,000-word limit.

Navigating tip: For more paying markets, go to theLabelsfor this posting listed below and
click on Paying Markets, or Best Paying Markets. In the list of Labels, you’ll
also find a links to various other collections of postings.

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong,
a New York Times #1 bestselling author
and one of Brian's students

Canadian Authors Association, Niagara,
presents…

Writing for Children &
for Young Adults ~ the world’s hottest marketSaturday, May 27, 2017
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

St. Catharines Central Library, Mills
Room, 54 Church Street, St. Catharines, Ontario (Map here)Note: The Writing for Children & for Young Adults workshop is also offered Saturday, August 12, in Collingwood, with
literary agent Monica Pacheco (see here),
and a weekly Writing Kid Lit course will be offered
Thursday mornings, Oct 5 – Nov in Oakville (see here).

If you want to write the next
best-selling children’s books or
just want to create stories for your own kids, this workshop is for you. Learn
how to write stories kids and young adults will love and find out what you need
to know to sell your book.

Special option:You
may, but don't have to, bring 2 or 3 copies of the opening couple pages (first
500 words) of your children’s book or young adult novel (or 1,000 words if that
will get you to the end of your picture book or to the end of your first
chapter.) If you’re not currently working on a children’s story, don’t worry,
we’ll get you started on the spot!

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing
instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. He publishes Quick Brown Fox,Canada’s most popular blog for
writers and is the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde (Tribute Publishing Inc). But his proudest boast is
that he’s has helped many of his students get published.

Guest speaker Anne Shoneis a
Senior Editor at Scholastic Canada, where she acquires books for publication. Scholastic Canada does not usually accept un-agented manuscripts, unless you’ve heard Anne speak at a workshop, so for anyone considering submitting to Scholastic, this workshop is a great opportunity. Anne has worked in book publishing for
close to twenty years, concentrating on children’s books for the last fifteen.
In that time, she has worked with many of Canada’s top children’s book authors
and illustrators.

Recent highlights include: picture books (Scribble by Ruth Ohi,What Is Peace? by Wallace Edwards andMittens to Share by Emil Sher, illustrated by Irene
Luxbacher); novels (Speechless by
Jennifer Mook-Sang,Young Man
with Camera by Emil Sher andBounced by Ted Staunton); and nonfiction (Colossal
Canada: 100 Epic Facts and Featsby
Elizabeth MacLeod and Frieda Wishinsky andThe Vimy
Oaks: A Journey to Peace by
Linda Granfield and illustrated by Brian Deines), to name just a few.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~ Brian

Alec Shaneis a literary agent with Writers House. One of the largest literary agencies in the world, Writers House
prides itself on providing an extraordinary amount of individual client
attention, combined with the full service benefits of foreign and sub rights
departments, as well as a full accounting and royalty staff.

“I began my career at Writers House as an intern in September of 2008
and simply refused to leave,” says Alec. “So I was given the wonderful job of
Assistant to Jodi
Reamer {who represents Stephenie Meyer and John Green, among others}.
I’m now also in the process of actively building my own list and currently
represent a fairly eclectic mix of Children's and Adult fiction and nonfiction.
I'm eagerly looking for both.

“Prior to working at Writers House, I held a number
of different jobs, including a brief stint out in Los Angeles as a professional
stuntman. And if you don't think knowing how to take a punch and getting thrown
through a glass window are both essential tools in the book business, then you
clearly don't know publishing.”

Best known projects: SHARK WARS, EJ Altbacker, THE LAST PUNISHER, Kevin
Lacz, NIGHT ON FIRE, Ronald Kidd, THE BOOK OF BLOOD, HP Newquist, HOW THE
STATES GOT THEIR SHAPES, Mark Stein, YOU MIGHT REMEMBER ME: THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF PHIL HARTMAN, Mike Thomas

The
interview…

Quick Brown
Fox (QBF): Do you have suggestions about getting manuscripts in shape before
writers start the submission process?

Alec: This is incredibly important, as once a manuscript
is out, it’s out. One of my biggest pet peeves as an agent is when an author
who queried me recently emails me to ask if I can swap out the original query
with a new, revised one; definitely don’t that. Workshop it, edit it, edit it
again, get second, third, and fourth reads, and when you think to yourself “if
I have to look at this manuscript one more time I’m going to break something,”
then it’s time to send out.

QBF: Should
writers have their manuscripts reviewed by a professional editor before
submitting?

Alec: It’s never a bad thing to have a professional
editor take a look at a manuscript, as a lot of editors also offer advice on
who to best submit to and will also work on getting your query letter into
shape and all other aspects of the process. That said, by no means is it
necessary; as long as you have a good critique partner or a strong editorial
eye, you can save yourself the money. Professional editors can definitely help,
but not using one isn’t going to doom your manuscript.

QBF: Are
there any books about writing or editing that you especially recommend?

Alec: It kind of starts and stops with On Writing by Stephen King, in my
opinion. It’s probably the best “how to” book on writing out there. Writing the Blockbuster Novel by Al
Zuckerman is also a good resource.

QBF: What
sort of books are you especially looking for?

Alec: I’d love to find the next Goosebumps or any kind of
MG or YA horror. I’d also love to find a mystery or thriller with a female
serial killer. The villain always seems to be a guy; women can be just as
disturbed, twisted, and evil as men, so let’s get a female Hannibal Lecter out
into the world.

On the nonfiction side, I’m looking for a book
about the history of the American barbershop, as well as a book about the men
who were commissioned as flamethrowers in WWII.

QBF: Is
there anything you see too much of or that seems overdone these days?

Alec: I see a lot of submissions that mirror what’s currently on the shelves,
as if authors see what’s trending and then try to write to that trend. The
problem with this strategy is that by the time the book actually hits the
shelves, the trend is already over; remember, the time that elapses between
when a book sells to a publisher and when it’s released is at least a year,
sometimes more.

That said, here are some opening scenes in novels that I see way too
much. If your book opens with any of the following, know that there are a ton
of other novels doing the exact same thing:

- Just waking
up in the morning

- On a
train/plane/automobile on the way to your new school/job/home/life

- At a funeral

- Out for a
morning run

- Getting
chased through the woods

- Getting yelled at by mom to come downstairs and eat breakfast/get to
school

QBF: On the
children’s fiction side, do you represent the whole range: Picture Books,
Chapter Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult?

Alec: The bulk of my children’s list is Middle Grade; I
have a few YA projects, but as my kids list is skewed primarily towards boys,
there’s more demand for that kind of book in the MG sphere. Teenage boys tend
to jump straight to adult books, so finding a strong boy-centric YA is
difficult (not that I’m not looking!). I wish I understood picture books, but I
just don’t have an eye for them.

QBF: Are you
interested in adventure fantasy?

Alec: Absolutely! Although I will say that sword and
sorcery fantasy isn’t really my thing. Not a big Lord of the Rings guy, so no elves and wizards and fairies and the
like. But amazing new worlds and ordinary people thrust into extraordinary
circumstances is right up my alley.

QBF: On the
adult side, are you interested in women’s fiction?

Alec: Not particularly.

QBF: The
terminology in the publishing world doesn’t seem terribly consistent. How do
you define upmarket or upscale fiction and are you looking for it?

Alec: Upmarket fiction is usually defined as fiction that straddles the line
between commercial and literary. Literary fiction is very heavy on beautiful
prose, whereas commercial fiction is primarily plot-driven and doesn’t rely as
much on the writing.

There’s also “high concept” fiction, which is usually defined as a book
in which the plot is easily accessible and you understand the concept right
away. “Cloned dinosaurs run amok at a futuristic theme park” (Jurassic Park)
or “sleazy lawyer finds himself incapable of lying for 24 straight hours” (Liar
Liar) are good examples of high concept ideas.

I’m just looking for good books. I don’t care about
upmarket or literary or speculative or whatever other term you want to throw
in. Just write something awesome and send it my way.

QBF: Can you
tell us about your process when you’re considering a project...

Alec: I usually read a manuscript several times before
deciding to take it on. When you acquire a book, you’re working for free until
it sells, so you have to really believe in it in order to pull the trigger.
I’ve read manuscripts that I have absolutely loved, but decided not to take on
because I knew I’d have a hard time selling it, so it also isn’t simply about
books that I really enjoy. The project has to hit that sweet spot between “I
want to work on this book for the next several years” and “there is room for this
book on the shelf.” So I take a lot of things into account before signing a new
client.

QBF: What
grabs your attention when you’re reading a query
letter?

Alec: The thing I look for more than anything else when
reading a query is whether or not the author did his/her homework and is
querying me for a reason. Even something as simple as “I noticed on your
Publisher Marketplace page that you’re looking for horror novels” or “I saw
from a recent Twitter post that you’d like to see a book that features a big
dog” will go an incredibly long way in making your query stand out. All too
often, authors write one extremely generic, form query, and then just blast it
out to every agent email address they can find. Doing your research and making
sure you personalize your query is going to work wonders.

QBF: Besides
a great book, what else you look for in a client? Do you require your clients
to have a strong social media presence?

Alec: One element that often flies under the radar when this question gets
asked is including whether or not we’re going to get along. I always speak with
an author on the phone before officially offering representation, as I want to
make sure we have a good dynamic and share the same vision for a book and a
career. Signing with an agent is a lot like a marriage; you don’t marry someone
who isn’t a good fit for you, and the same applies to the author/agent
relationship.

In terms of social media presence, it’s never a bad thing to be active,
but I have never read a book, loved it, and not taken it on because the author
didn’t have enough Twitter followers. I worry that authors spend too much time
getting Facebook likes and not enough time honing their craft.

Nonfiction is a different story, however. When it
comes to nonfiction, platform is extremely important, so I’ll put much more
weight into online presence when considering a nonfiction project.

QBF: In
general, what is the outlook for new and aspiring writers?

Alec: What I think makes it most difficult for aspiring writers right now is
the combination of how impatient we have become as a society and how many
outlets for publishing your book currently exist. Publishing a book is a long
and sometimes glacially slow process.

With very few exceptions, if I were to sell a book tomorrow, it wouldn’t
be coming out until next year at the very earliest. And that doesn’t take into
account how long it takes to write the book, revise it, revise it again, revise
it a third, fourth, and fifth time, find an agent, revise with the agent,
revise with the agent again, submit to editors, find the right buyer, negotiate
the contract, sign the contract, revise with the editor, and revise with the
editor again. That whole process can take years.

OR, you can write it, go to Amazon, click that
little “Publish” button, and your book is up for the world to read – along with
the 15,000 other books that came out that day. You have to be
patient and willing to do the work if you want to make it as an author – and a
lot of folks have a lot of trouble doing that these days.

QBF: Can you
tell us something about how you work with authors....

Alec: I’m very hands-on as an agent, especially
editorially. The market is extremely tight right now, so it’s important to have
the strongest manuscript possible when sending out to editors, and I work with
my authors to ensure that everything that can be done gets done. I also like to
try and custom-tailor my agenting style to fit an author’s specific needs; some
authors like to get more attention than others, and so it’s hard to describe my
style in broad-strokes terms.

QBF: What
writing advice do you give most to your clients?

Alec: Don’t worry about trends or what’s hot right now or
anything like that. Just write what you want to write and what you’re excited
about. I can list all the rules and dos and don’ts and clichés and everything
else about publishing – but all of that just vanishes in the face of a great
book.

Brian Henry
will lead Writing for Children & for Young Adult workshops on Saturday,
May 27, in St. Catharines with Anne Shone, senior editor at Scholastic Books
(see here),
and on Saturday, Aug 12, in Collingwood with literary agent Monica Pacheco
(see here).

Other upcoming workshops include: “You can write great
dialogue,” Saturday,
June 10 in Guelph, with author Hannah McKinnon, (see here),
Saturday, July 15, in Mississauga (see here),
and Saturday, July 22, in London (see here),
and “How to Write
Great Characters,”Saturday,June 17 in Burlington
(see here).

This summer Brian will be leading
three creative writing courses, introductory to advanced:

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Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Burlington, Mississauga, Oakville and Georgetown and conducts Saturday workshops throughout Ontario. His proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.